The Secondary School English Language Reading Curriculum: A Teacher's Perceptions

In Malaysia, the issue of weak and non-proficient graduates is a pressing matter. This implies that they are not well-equipped to cope with academic literacy, which is closely related to their language proficiency, as the main medium of instruction at most higher institutions is the English language. At this level, reading is the essence of academic achievement where they are required to read, explain and critically assess lengthy, often complicated academic texts, and process the obtained information either in written or spoken forms (Nambiar, 2007; Levine, Ferenz and Reves, 2000). The problem of reading that arises may be tracked down to the secondary school level, which may due to the inconsistencies and misalignment between the approaches and design with the implementation stage in the classroom. Thus, this study seeks to explore the perceptions of an English Language teacher with regard to the English Language Reading Curriculum in improving students' comprehension ability. Findings will serve as an efficient and operational guide to designing reading curriculum and instruction, as well as a tool that can be used to evaluate a set of curriculum and instruction, specifically in second language teaching and learning, and across subjects in general. It can also be utilised for reviewing or counter-checking of curriculum documents after a certain period of time. (Contains 2 figures.)